1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of aviation and more particularly to control panels for controlling an aircraft.
2. Background Art
With many present day aircraft, and particularly military aircraft, many aircraft functions are accessed or activated by manipulating some type of control (i.e., a switch, knob, button or the like). Depending on the specific function of the manipulated control, the crewmember will activate a specific aircraft function or receive some type of feedback related to the operational performance of the aircraft. In general, most of these aircraft operational and status controls are available to the crewmembers via various control panels situated in appropriate locations throughout the aircraft. The feedback received from these various controls is usually considered to be an integral part of controlling most aircraft. Since different aircraft have different operational capabilities and different flight characteristics, the number and type of controls found in each different type of aircraft may vary somewhat.
While various types of aircraft may have the same general operational characteristics, the specific functions of a given aircraft may require a number of controls not found on other aircraft. This means that an aircraft manufacturer usually designs an aircraft-specific set of controls for each different model or type of aircraft that they manufacture. While the goal of achieving certain manufacturing efficiencies may indicate the practicality of a single control panel for each particular type of aircraft, there are other considerations that come into play. For example, some of the various government agencies that approve and certify aircraft require that each and every control on a control panel provide some indication to the crewmember if a given control is non-functional or does not activate an aircraft function or feature. In general, some indication should be given to alert the crewmember that the control is non-functional. Additionally, many similar aircraft have very different functions, depending on the specific application and the needs of the customer ordering the aircraft. For example, military and commercial versions of similar aircraft require significantly different features and functions, even though the operational flight characteristics of the two aircraft may be substantially similar.
Therefore, while providing a single control panel adaptable to many different types of aircraft may be desirable, practical considerations currently limit the standardization of the controls for a given control panel. Accordingly, aircraft manufacturers routinely customize the control panel for each different set of features available to the crew for each specific type of aircraft. Not only is this less than optimal from the perspective of manufacturing efficiency, it can significantly increase the number of design requirements for a given type of aircraft, even when only minor differences exist between various models. Since each new type of aircraft must undergo testing and review prior to being certified for use, customization of the control panel can introduce delays into the approval process for aircraft when the control panels are modified.
In view of the foregoing, it should be appreciated that it would be desirable to provide methods and apparatus for standardizing aircraft control panel configurations without a separate and distinct control panels for each aircraft. It would also be desirable to maintain compliance with various government standards regarding control panel functionality without comprising design and/or manufacturing decisions. Furthermore, additional desirable features will become apparent to one skilled in the art from the foregoing background of the invention and following detailed description of a preferred exemplary embodiment and appended claims.
A standardized control panel for aircraft provides manually operable controls that are configured to activate an aircraft function if the requested aircraft function is installed on the aircraft or, are otherwise configured to activate a visual indicator if the requested aircraft function is absent from the aircraft.